TTU Food Sanitation Exam 1 Practice Test

Shigellosis is highly infectious because Shigella needs only a very small number of organisms to cause illness—often around a hundred or fewer. That low infectious dose means the bacteria can spread easily through the fecal-oral route, especially in settings with close contact or poor hygiene, leading to rapid transmission. The illness typically presents with inflammatory diarrhea that can be bloody, reflecting mucosal invasion and damage. Dairy products are not the primary vehicle for Shigella, so linking shigellosis mainly to dairy isn’t accurate. This combination of a low infectious dose and dysentery with possible blood in the stool is why the statement about a low infectious dose (as few as 100 cells) is the true one.